over 11 years ago
Recap of the kick-off presentation and rules (FAQ)
In case you missed the kick-off presentation last night, here is a quick recap of the rules.
Your Mission
Your mission is to learn Swift and make an iOS app this weekend. We hope that this isn't the end of the journey for you though. We would love to see you continue building your app, polishing it up, and posting it to the App Store for millions to download.
Eligibility
You must be a currently enrolled student in CMU to participate. If you are a student of another school, please make sure that you have talked to me (challenge@apple.com) to make arrangements.
Apple employees are not eligible to participate. You may not be employed by a company that retains intellectual property ownership of any developed code.
You own all of the rights to your app. That means if you make the next billion dollar this weekend, it's yours and Apple does not make any claims to own it.
Rules
All coding must be done during the Development Weekend - starting Thursday night at 7:00pm through Sunday night at 11:59pm.
You must build a native iOS app and at least 60% of your code must be written in Swift. If you would like to use third party frameworks, that is fine but make sure to check the license agreement to make sure you are allowed to use it and acknowledge them somewhere in your app and your notes when you submit. You might need to do some code in Objective-C to bridge a third-party framework which is fine but make sure you are doing at least 60% of your code in Swift. If you have a server-side component, make sure that at least 60% of your code is in Swift.
You may NOT re-use any prior code that you have personally developed. PhoneGap, MakeGamesWithUs, Unity, and other technologies that abstract away the code are not allowed.
Your app must be fully functional and working at the time of the review, including any server-side components. MAKE SURE that it compiles and that you include any necessary frameworks and resources when you submit. I recommend trying to compile on someone else's computer or the lab computers to make sure you don't forget anything.
You app must meet submission requirements for the App Store. Mostly it is common sense but review the rules at https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/.
*** If you have any question about the rules, please e-mail challenge@apple.com or come by and talk to us during Office Hours. *** I would hate to have to disqualify someone so if you're not sure, just ask!
Key Dates
Coding is going on now.
Submit by 11:59pm on Sunday night, September 28th.
Awards Ceremony on Monday night, September 29th at 7:00pm.
Office Hours: Friday from 6pm to Midnight. Saturday and Sunday from Noon to Midnight.
We'll have practice presentations on Monday afternoon as well. Sign-up link will go out on Sunday.
Developer Accounts
We will provide you a free, temporary university program developer account to use for the weekend. This account does NOT give you the ability to use distribution-level features like Passbook, Game Center, Push Notifications, or CloudKit. If you want to use those features, you'll need to pay the $99 to get a paid account.
I strongly encourage you to continue developing after this weekend and when your app is ready, pay the $99 to get a paid account and publish it to the App Store. Just think... if that $99 gets you a job, you're going to make much more than the cost of the developer program.
Office Hours
Friday from 6pm to Midnight. Saturday and Sunday from Noon to Midnight.
We have loaner iPod touches and iPads for you to borrow to test your app.
Come by and hang out in the Rashid Auditorium. We'll have plenty of snacks, food, drinks and Apple Engineers to help you when you have questions.
Watch for ChallengePost updates about dinner and snacks.
Prizes
We have a judging panel of faculty from CMU who will be deciding the first place and second place app.
First place = 13" MacBook Air for each member of the team
Second place = 128GB iPad Air for each member of the team
We'll also have an audience choice award for an iPad mini for each member of the team. Make sure to bring your friends to the awards ceremony so they can vote for you. You must be present to vote. We'll also have some raffle prizes for them too.
Teams
Teams are a minimum of two people and are a maximum of four people.
It is highly recommended that you have four people. Focus on complementary skill sets and help each other learn what you don’t know -- maybe you have 1 designer, 2 front-end developers, and a back-end person.
Make sure every team member is registered on ChallengePost and has completed a full profile including their FULL NAME and not just an e-mail address.
If you are still looking for team members, go to http://cmuios.challengepost.com and click the Discussions tab. There is a post for finding team members. Also check the Participants tab to see the skillset of different folks.
Tips on how to win
1. Come ask for help. We've done this a few times now and we've found consistently that the teams that win are the ones that come and ask us for help during Office Hours. If you get stuck on code or just want to run your idea past us, that's what we're there for!
2. Focus on core functionality and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Get one big feature done first and then focus on adding more features.
3. Don’t underestimate the importance of a good user experience and good design. If your app looks good, you'll engage the audience and the judges.
4. Focus on what you can show in a 2-minute demo.
5. Test on a device. We have devices to borrow or I can provision your device.
Submit your final project to ChallengePost
Don’t wait until the last minute!
All team members must be registered on ChallengePost. You don't need to specify your team until you submit but if you don't list every team member in the submission, they won't be eligible for the prizes.
Make sure to include an icon for your app.
When you submit to ChallengePost, include screenshots of your app. You'll be using this link to put on your resume so spend some time making the webpage look good and something you'll be proud of.
You will zip up your .xcodeproj and submit that. Make sure to include all of your resources, frameworks, graphics, and a high-res version of your app icon. Only the Apple folks and the judges will be able to see this.
We will compile your code and have it available on either an iPad or iPod touch for the final presentation. Specify in the notes about which device you would like to use. If you need an iPhone 6 for your demo, come talk to us.
Final Presentation
Your final presentation will be a live 2 minute demo on stage. Your app will be pre-loaded for you on either an iPad or iPod touch.
We'll have practice sessions on Monday afternoon so you can make sure things go smoothly.
Let’s pack McConomy Auditorium! Invite all of your friends to come cheer you on.
That's it for the rules. If you have any questions, please e-mail challenge@apple.com or come by and talk to us during Office Hours.